Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin’s troops thwart cross-border attack as he warns against long-range weapons
Russia loses nearly 200 soldiers, with 80 confirmed fatalities in Ukraine’s east, in the past 24 hours
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Russian forces blocked another cross-border incursion allegedly by Ukraine into south-western Russia, a local official claimed.
An “armed group” attempted to breach the border between Ukraine and Russia’s Bryansk region yesterday but was beaten back, local governor Aleksandr Bogomaz said. The Russian local official did not specify whether Ukrainian soldiers carried out the attack.
Bryansk region neighbours Kursk province, where Ukraine launched a surprise push on 6 August that rattled the Kremlin and constituted the largest attack on Russia since the second World War.
The region has been previously attacked by two murky groups – the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Freedom of Russia Legion.
This comes as president Vladimir Putin said Russia would use “a range of responses” if the US and its Nato allies allowed Ukraine to strike inside his country with Western long-range weapons.
On the frontline, Russia lost nearly 200 soldiers, with 80 confirmed fatalities in Ukraine’s east, in the past 24 hours where a fierce battle is underway, military officials said.
Power outages reported after Russian strikes
People living in Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Sumy, Kharkiv and Khmelnytskyi have faced power outages over the past 24 hours after intense Russian bombardments.
Ukraine’s Energy Ministry reported that a substation in Khmelnytskyi had been shut down during an air raid, resulting in a blackout for residents and industry.
Another Russian attack on a substation in Dnipropetrovsk resulted in equipment being switched off, causing a power outage for household consumers and a water utility.
The power supply has since been restored.
Overhead lines went out of service in Donetsk after fighting cut power to a substation.
Substations, household consumers, energy facilities and local industry were cut off from the power grid during a Russian drone attack on Sumy Oblast. The power supply has been restored.
76-year-old woman injured in village airstrike
The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office has revealed the damage of strikes on a Ukrainian village.
“The investigation revealed that on October 26 at approximately 9pm, Russian troops conducted an air strike on the village of Malynivka in the Chuhuiv district.
“The storage facilities of the farm sustained damage.
“There were no casualties.
“Additionally, yesterday at approximately 10pm the Russian military shelled the village of Kruhliakivka in the Kupiansk district with artillery. A 76-year-old woman was injured, and residential buildings were damaged,” the statement says.
Russia puts down wave of Ukrainian counterattacks in Kursk
Russian troops repelled eight new counterattacks by Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region, the Interfax news agency cited Russia’s defence ministry as saying on Sunday.
News agency Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield reports.
Russian artillery kills two, injures 14 in overnight strikes
Russia shelled eight towns and villages in Donetsk leaving two people killed, nine civilians and four police officers injured.
The National Police of Ukraine reported that the towns Kostiantynivka, Kurakhove, Mykolaivka, and Toretsk, as well as the villages of Kostiantynopil, Markove, Rozdolne, and Sontsivka were damaged, including 22 residential buildings.
“The Russian military dropped two FAB-250 bombs equipped with a guidance module on Kostiantynivka, killing one person and injuring three civilians.
In Mykolaivka, another civilian was killed with damage caused to a civilian car, a motorcycle, and a power line.
Kostiantynopil was hit by shelling from a Tornado-S multiple rocket launcher injuring two residents and causing damage to three civilian homes and a car.
Russia claims victory over Donetsk village
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had taken control of the village of Izmailivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Russian state news agency RIA reported on Sunday.
News agency Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield reports.
Russia launches drone attack on Kyiv for second night, Ukraine says
Russia launched a multi-wave drone attack on Kyiv for the second straight night, the military administration of the Ukrainian capital said this morning.
“It seems that now every night, without long breaks, the Russian armed forces attack the peaceful city of Kyiv,” Serhiy Popko, head of the military administration said on Telegram messaging app.
“Last night, the enemy made another attack on the capital.”
He added that Russia launched around 10 drones in several waves, from different directions and at different heights, but Ukrainian air defence units destroyed all of the weapons on their approach to the city.
No injuries or major damage were reported, Mr Popko added. He said that the Air Force will release data on the full-scale of the overnight attack on Ukraine later on Sunday.
Reuters could not independently verify the report. There was no immediate comment from Russia on the overnight attack on Kyiv.
Putin says Russia will respond if Ukraine permitted to strike with long-range weapons
Russia’s president Vladimir Putin said Moscow will use “a range of responses” if the US and its Nato allies allow Ukraine to use Western long-range weapons to strike inside Russia, according to remarks published on Sunday.
The Russian defence ministry “is thinking about how to respond to the possible long-range strikes on Russian territory, it will offer a range of responses”, Putin told state TV reporter Pavel Zarubin in video remarks published on Zarubin’s Telegram messaging account.
Russia says it downs at 51 Ukrainian drones overnight
Russia’s air defence units destroyed or intercepted 51 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Russian defence ministry said early this morning.
Eighteen of the drones were intercepted over the Tambov region, some 450km southeast of Moscow, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.
Another 16 were destroyed over the Belgorod border region and the rest over the Voronezh, Oryol and Kursk regions in Russia’s south.
One woman was moderately injured as a result of the drone attack on Belgorod, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Telegram. He added that a few cars were also damaged.
Tambov governor Maxim Yegorov said a Ukrainian drone fell onto the Michurinsky district, sparking a short-lived fire but causing no injuries or material damage.
The Russian defence ministry reports only how many drones its units destroy, not how many Ukraine launches. Russian officials also rarely disclose the full scale of damage inflicted by the attacks, especially when they involve military or energy infrastructure.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Ukrainian official says full Russian withdrawal needed to establish peace
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff yesterday said that a full withdrawal of Russian troops, and not just peace talks, were essential to ending the war.
The chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, was addressing an international meeting devoted to implementing a peace plan, one of several gatherings staged as a follow-up to last June’s world “peace summit” hosted by Switzerland.
“Don’t expect this war to end when the warring sides begin to talk to each other,” Mr Yermak told the gathering, according to the president’s website.
“Don’t be deceived. This war will end when the last soldier of the occupying army returns home.”
The gathering was attended in person in Kyiv and online by representatives of 56 countries and organisations.
Mr Yermak told the meeting that concerted international pressure on Russia should set a precedent.
“This will prove to the entire world that the pursuit of international conquests in the 21st century is immoral and senseless. Whatever has been seized will have to be returned to the rightful owners,” he was quoted as saying.
The international community, he said, had to prove stronger than any aggressor, “however strong that aggressor might be”.
Russian attacks prompts Ukraine's Zelensky to ask allies for more resolve
A string of Russian attacks killed and injured civilians in widely separated parts of Ukraine, prompting president Volodymyr Zelensky to issue a new call to Kyiv’s allies yesterday to intensify pressure on Moscow.
Rescue teams in the central city of Dnipro completed operations on Friday after Russian missile attacks that killed five people, including a child, and injured more than 20.
A Russian glide bomb killed one person and injured three yesterday in Kostiantynivka, near the front line in Donetsk region, the regional governor said. Russian shelling killed two people in a small town west of the Ukrainian-held southern city of Kherson.
And in Kyiv, a drone struck a high-rise apartment building on Friday west of the city centre, killing a teenage girl.
Mr Zelensky, in his nightly video address, said the assaults showed Russia was “determined to continue its aggression”.
“These are conditions in which the lack of stronger decisions from partners to support Ukraine only encourages (Russian President Vladimir) Putin to invest further in terror,” Mr Zelensky said.
“The world can stop the escalation of war. Abstractions and words are not enough for this. Concrete steps are needed.”
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